Airborne
by LadyandtheTurtleduck
Summary: Levy didn't know what the man's problem was, but it was clear that this was going to be a long, awkward flight. (A stuck sitting next to each other on a plane for 5 hours AU. One-shot)


**A/N: **So I saw this post post/105774914690 and I accidentally wrote an airplane AU. Oops..

**Disclaimer: **I technically don't own Fairy Tail.

* * *

At the start of her flight, Levy was sure she had met one of the unhappiest people she had ever seen.

Initially she had hopped on her plane to Magnolia in a decent mood. She was sad to be leaving, but excited to go back home. Her good mood dwindled slightly, however, when she caught site of her assigned seat and the person sitting next to it.

Levy wasn't really one to judge, but, to her, the large man sitting next to the window did not look the friendliest. He didn't pay any attention to her as she struggled to put her suitcase in the compartment above where she would be sitting.

Before Levy sat down next to him she took in his appearance: his long, unruly black hair, multiple piercings, and red eyes that were too busy glaring at the seat in front of him to notice her staring. She had definitely never seen anyone like him before.

Levy wondered if she should say anything to him. Usually on flights like these she made some sort of small talk with her seat neighbor. She glanced at the man and put on a friendly smile.

"Hi," Levy greeted him hesitantly.

He moved his glaring eyes over to her. The man said nothing for a few moments then nodded his head slightly and made an unpleasant grunting noise before turning his head back to where it was.

_Well that didn't go very well_, Levy thought. She adjusted her headband uncomfortably.

"I'm Levy," she continued, trying to be friendly.

He didn't even look at her this time. The stranger just kept on glaring silently until finally growling out "Gajeel," and looking completely away from her and out the window.

Levy's smile disappeared. She didn't know what the man's problem was, but it was clear that this was going to be a long, awkward flight. It could be worse though. She could have been stuck sitting next to a creepy pervert, or someone who smelled bad. At least with the grumpy Gajeel she could read peacefully until the flight was over.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a voice came over the intercom.

"Good afternoon ladies and gentleman. Welcome aboard Fiore Airlines flight 2489 to Magnolia. Flight duration is approximately 5 hours. We are expecting a fairly smooth flight today with possible slight turbulence…"

Levy tuned out the rest. She had heard it all before, so she only paid slight attention as they went over flight information and safety procedures.

When the plane finally began to take off she grabbed a novel out of her carry-on bag and leaned back into her seat. Unfortunately, she was only able to get through the first sentence of the book before hearing a gagging noise and heavy breathing coming from beside her.

Levy was surprised, to say the least, when she looked over to the man sitting next to her. He was hunched over, head in his hands, sweat on his forehead, groaning, and looking a lot less scary than he had been a few minutes ago. She dropped her novel and eyed him curiously, unsure of what to do in this situation.

"Are you alright?" she asked him softly.

He took a few deep breaths. "I'm fine," he ground out.

It was clear that he wasn't, but Levy didn't know how to help him. She couldn't figure out what was wrong. Was he sick? Was he dying? She didn't know until she took in the slight greenish tint to his skin and it hit her.

"Motion sickness," she thought out loud. Even she got small butterflies in her stomach when the plane was ascending, but nothing compared to what her seat neighbor looked like he was currently feeling.

"Tch," he said weakly while trying to lift his head and open his eyes. Apparently he had heard her. "I ain't some weakling who gets-"

Gajeel's sentence was cut off when the plane jerked slightly. He made a strangled noise and doubled back over with a hand covering his mouth.

Levy panicked a bit at the possibility of him throwing up next to her. She did not want to spend the next five hours encompassed in the smell of vomit.

Her hand reached out to grab one of the bags that the airline provided for situations like these.

"Um maybe you should take this in case you feel like you're going to get sick." She held the bag out to him.

"I don't throw up," he told her between heavy breaths.

Levy wasn't convinced. He looked pale, sweaty, and moments away from blowing chunks everywhere or passing out. She bent down near him and began to reach a hand out to put on his shoulder.

"Maybe you could-"

"Is everything alright?" a flight attendant asked from beside them, making Levy jump and pull her hand back.

"Its fine," Gajeel growled before she could say anything.

The flight attendant looked concerned. She probably didn't want anyone puking all over the place as much as Levy.

"Can I get you two anything to drink then?"

Levy ignored the "no" that Gajeel could barely get out and answered for them. "Can we get a glass of water and some ginger ale please?"

"Of course," the lady said with a gentle smile and hurried off to get their drinks.

"I said I didn't want anything," Gajeel growled weakly at her. He was still hunched over, but his breathing had slowed down a bit.

"I know," Levy said calmly. "But I read somewhere that ginger ale can help with nausea." She wasn't sure how true that really was, but she figured that the placebo effect of it might help him at the very least.

The flight attendant came back with their drinks and placed them on Levy's table. Levy gave her a quiet "thank you" and picked up the ginger ale. She looked down at Gajeel who had his eyes squeezed shut.

"Can you at least try to drink it?"

"No" he grunted out.

Levy sighed and moved closer to him. "Please? I really think it would help. The carbonation at the least might make you feel better."

Gajeel slowly moved his head to glare up at her. "Why do you even care anyway?"

"Because I don't like seeing other people in pain," Levy answered honestly. "...and I really don't want you to throw up," she quickly tacked on at the end.

He just stared at her for a few seconds and narrowed his eyes. Levy stared back and raised her eyebrows while reaching the glass out to him.

Eventually Gajeel gave in and took the glass from her. "Fine," he grunted while slowly sitting up. She watched as he took a small sip from the cup.

She waited a few moments. "Do you feel any better?"

He took a deep breath. "Not really," he answered making Levy frown, but he took another sip anyway. He still didn't look too great, but he didn't look like he was about to vomit any second anymore either, which she thought was a slight improvement.

"I'm sorry," she said feeling a little bad for him.

"Don't be. The beginning of the flight is always the worst. I just need to calm down," Gajeel insisted sternly. He set the empty cup down and crossed his arms over his chest settling into his seat.

"Maybe you could try sleeping," Levy suggested.

Gajeel just grunted in response and closed his eyes, letting her know he was done talking.

Levy settled back into her own chair and got out her novel again. Maybe she could actually get some reading done this time. She glanced back over at Gajeel before starting her novel. _What a strange man_.

* * *

One hour into the flight Levy put her novel down. She got some good reading in, but decided that it was time for a break. If she kept reading now than she would finish her book much sooner than she wanted to. All her other books were packed in her suitcase, so she would have to make the one she had last the rest of the flight.

Her eyes shifted to the window where she could make out some clouds and the beginning of a sunset. Levy would have liked to sit next to the window so she could get a better view, but unfortunately that seat was taken up by someone who wouldn't even enjoy it.

She looked over at the large man and was surprised to see his red eyes looking back at her.

"Can't sleep?" Levy asked a bit nervously.

He shook his head. "It's kind of hard to sleep when it feels like your insides are trying to kill you."

Levy hummed. She thought that was pretty understandable.

"Maybe it would help if you found something to distract you."

He gave her a weird look. "Like what?"

"Well you could watch a movie," she tried, pointing to the screens in front of them.

"All the movies on here suck."

"Okaay, then how about reading? Did you bring any books?"

"Nope."

"You can read my book if you want to." She held up her book.

"Trust me, reading just makes it worse," he scoffed.

"Do you like _anything_?" Levy mumbled mostly to herself.

"Not really."

Levy sighed. "What about music? Do you like music?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Well there you go!" she said brightly. "You could listen to some music!"

"Don't got anything to listen to."

Levy frowned. "Oh." She paused, trying to think of more things that could help, but came up blank.

"Well maybe we could just talk then?" She needed something to do anyway. Even though Gajeel didn't seem like the best conversational partner it would be better than doing nothing.

Gajeel seemed to ponder her suggestion for a few moments. The uncertainty was clear on his face.

"We don't have to talk the whole time," she added quickly. "Just on and off when one of us gets bored or you get hit with another round of bad nausea." Gajeel deliberated over this.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt," he finally decided.

"Great!" Levy said trying to come up with something to talk about. "Soo… you like music?"

"Yeah I like music," he answered plainly. Levy stared at him waiting for him to elaborate. Gajeel sighed and rolled his eyes.

"I pay guitar," he told her, "and sometimes sing."

"Oh wow!" Levy smiled at him. "Too bad you can't play guitar right now. That would surely take your mind off of things. Did you bring it on the plane with you?" she asked looking above to where their luggage was at.

"No… I actually don't have a guitar right now." He looked uncomfortable.

"Oh. Why not?"

"Sold it to help pay for this plane ticket."

That surprised her a little bit. Gajeel looked a little rough around the edges, but it didn't look like he had major money problems.

"Well maybe you'll be able to get a new one when you get back home."

Gajeel snorted bitterly. "Yeah it's on the to-do list."

Levy was unsure of how to reply to that. After a while she asked, "So do you live in Magnolia or are you just visiting?"

"Used to live there a long time ago, now I'm going back to live with my cousins."

"Oh, I just moved there about a year ago which is probably why I've never seen you before." _But maybe I'll see you when we get back_, she thought, wondering afterwards where the thought had come from.

* * *

Two hours into the flight Levy and Gajeel had been talking on and off for a while. They had talked about multiple topics ranging from favorite foods to past and current jobs to what they wanted to do when they got back. Levy found that Gajeel was much easier to be around than she had originally thought. It was actually rather pleasant for her to go from causally talking to him to sitting in comfortable silence like they were doing now.

Levy wasn't sure if their conversations had actually helped him at all, but she thought that he looked just a little more relaxed now than he had before. Either way she enjoyed talking to him and he didn't seem to mind talking to her.

She was about to ask him another random question when a voice came back over the intercom.

"Attention passengers. We would like to ask everyone to please return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts at this time. In a few moments we will be experiencing some short, moderate turbulence, but we assure you that there is nothing to worry about. Thank you."

_Oh no_, she thought looking over to Gajeel. He looked pretty much the same except his face had gone a shade paler and his hand had a death drip on the rest between their seats.

"Gajeel," she asked worriedly, "are you going to be alright?"

He took a shaky breath. "I'll be-"

The plane started lightly shaking and for the second time that day Levy watched as Gajeel hunched over and made a gagging noise.

"Fuck!" he groaned as the shaking picked up a bit.

"Gajeel!" Levy said alarmed. If possible, he looked worse than he did at the start of the flight.

"God dammit," he said between pants, "just when I was starting to..ugh.. feel halfway decent."

Levy reached her hands out, wanting to help somehow. She automatically went to rub a hand on his back like she did to comfort her friends when they were sick, but she pulled it away at the last moment. Gajeel didn't seem like the type to appreciate a total stranger touching him.

Instead she asked him, "What can I do to help?!"

"I don't… need….your pity," he struggled out.

Levy could not believe how stubborn he was.

"Would you stop being stupid and just let me help you!" she half shouted. "Don't you have any medicine or something that will help ease your nausea?"

After some more groaning and gagging noises he finally muttered, "In my bag."

Levy quickly reached down by his feet and grabbed a black drawstring bag. She opened the bag and searched through it for some type of medicine, not even processing what else he had in there. After a couple of seconds she found a bottle of what looked like medicine and took out two white pills.

"Here." She bent down to put the pills into the hand that wasn't holding his stomach. Gajeel downed the pills without water.

Levy sat restlessly for a few minutes before the plane stopped shaking and she watched as he started to calm down.

"Better?"

"A little," he answered, still taking deep breaths. Levy exhaled. Crisis, momentarily, averted.

"Why didn't you take the medicine earlier?" she asked a little bit annoyed at the fact that this whole thing could have all been easily avoided.

"Tch. Because I don't need medicine." She looked at him with disbelief. "And it has side effects."

"Side effects?" Levy grabbed the bottle and looked under the section labeled **WARNING**. "May cause extreme drowsiness," she read.

"You're going to get really tired?"

"Yeah," Gajeel grunted. He started sitting up. "This shit works, but it knocks ya out real fast. I'm already startin' to feel it."

Levy gave him an annoyed look and puffed up her cheeks. "I still think you should have taken the medicine as soon as you got on the plane. You could have just taken it, slept the whole way, and not gotten sick at all."

"Tch. Whatever. Why should I listen to you anyway," Gajeel mumbled sleepily, "You're short."

"What!" Levy exclaimed. "I'm not that short! And what does that have to do with anything!"

Gajeel gave her a goofy smile, his eyes starting to droop.

"Gihi yes you are. Shorty." Levy let out an exasperated noise.

"Just go to sleep already," she sighed. Taking her advice, he settled back into his seat.

"Mmkay shorty," were the last words he mumbled before falling asleep. Levy rolled her eyes.

"How did I end up like this," she asked herself, feeling tired.

* * *

Three hours into the flight Levy felt something touch her head and the top of her right shoulder while she was reading her book. She glanced to the side and tensed up a bit when she realized it was Gajeel just barely leaning on her while he was sleeping. Levy felt herself blush.

She looked around and noticed that it was completely dark outside and many other people on the plane were beginning to sleep as well.

Not wanting to move for the fear of him waking up and being sick all over again, Levy put her book down and leaned back into her seat. She could use a nap after the strange day she was having.

* * *

Four hours into the flight Levy woke up. She blinked a few times before remembering where she was and realizing that she was leaning against something harder than her chair. With slightly pink cheeks, Levy glanced up. Gajeel was smirking down at her.

"Enjoy your nap?"

Levy looked away and pouted, looking a little embarrassed.

"You fell asleep on me first," she muttered grumpily.

"Gihi. Sure Shorty."

"Would you stop calling me that! I was being nice and trying to help you and this is how you thank me?" Levy told him with mock anger.

"Sorry," Gajeel grumbled awkwardly. "Thanks by the way…I guess."

Levy smiled at him. "Do you at least feel better?"

"Yeah I feel great. This stuff knocks you out for a couple hours, but after that it really gets the job done."

"Well I'm glad that you're not on the verge of throwing up anymore."

"Tch. Yeah, but only for the last hour on this death contraption," he said bitterly, making Levy giggle.

"At least we'll be home soon right? That'll be so nice."

"Yeah, I guess." He looked uncomfortable again. Levy hoped the nausea wasn't coming back.

"Will your cousins be at the airport to pick you up?"

"Uh no."

"No?"

"They, uh, actually don't know that I'm coming," he told her, scratching the back of his head.

Levy widened her eyes a bit at that. She didn't want to pry, but she was extremely curious now. For reasons that confused her, she found herself wanting to know a lot more about this man that she barely even knew.

"Well, I'm sure they'll be pleasantly surprised to see you."

Gajeel snorted. "I sure as hell hope so. Who knows what they'll do after all the shit I've put them through."

Levy remained silent, but raised her eyebrows. Gajeel let out a long breath.

"When I was seventeen I left them and moved to Oak Town. I got involved in some pretty stupid shit there for a couple of years, until I was fed up with all of it. After that I booked a ticket west and lived out there for a year while I cleared my head. When I decided I was done thinking I thought I'd go back to Magnolia and now here I am."

It took Levy a moment to process everything, but it didn't make him off putting to her. Even if Gajeel had done some bad things in his past, he seemed like a good person to her at the core.

"That doesn't seem too bad you know," Levy said softly. "Everyone makes mistakes and it seems like you've done a pretty good job trying to make up for yours. I'm sure they'll forgive you. You're they're family."

"Oh I know they'll forgive me," Gajeel told her with a frown and slightly guilty eyes. "They always do."

Levy smiled, trying to ease the serious mood that had been set.

"Now maybe you can have a fresh start then."

"…Maybe."

* * *

Five hours into the flight the plane landed at Magnolia Airport and people started groggily shuffling to get off. This time when Levy struggled to get her suitcase down, Gajeel helped her and looked away with pink ears when she smiled and told him thank you.

They walked slowly through the airport together, both still sleepy from the journey. When they reached the front doors Levy stopped and looked at him. He was definitely one of the strangest people she had ever sat next to on an airplane, but she was kind of happy about how things had turned out. Levy didn't know why, but she enjoyed his company and was a little sad to see him go. She was about to say goodbye to him when he spoke first.

"Isn't your roommate coming to pick you up or something?" he asked looking a little embarrassed.

Levy blinked. "No she had to work tonight, so she couldn't come."

"Do you, uh, maybe want to share a cab on the way home then?"

"That would be great!" Levy smiled happily at the suggestion.

The two quickly found a taxi and Levy got in while Gajeel put their suitcases in the back. Afterwards he got in beside her and they told the driver their addresses. The driver then took off through the town.

"So how does it feel to be back in Magnolia?" Levy asked him casually.

"Well I've only been back for a few minutes, but it feels pretty good I guess," he answered and looked out the window. "I've always liked this town."

Levy hummed. "It's a great place to live," she agreed. "Have you ever been to Fairy Tail? It's a really good bar and grill."

Gajeel looked surprised at first, but then gave her an odd smile after a few seconds.

"I've been there a time or two why?"

"That's where my roommate Lucy works, so I go and hang out there sometimes. It's right next to the bookstore I work at, too." He looked pleased by that.

"Maybe I'll see you around there sometime then," Gajeel told her as the taxi rolled up to her stop.

Levy smiled and nodded her head."Maybe I will," she said and started to get money out of her bag. Gajeel stopped her, however.

"Don't worry about it, I'll get it."

"Are you sure?"

He nodded. "It's the least I can do after you had to deal with me and my…problem the whole plane ride."

Levy giggled and thanked him as she got her bags out of the car. She waved at him before going into her apartment.

"It was nice meeting you Gajeel."

Gajeel held up a hand to say goodbye. "I'll see ya Shorty."

Levy watched the taxi leave and hoped that she really would see him again.

* * *

The next day at her apartment Levy was still sleeping in her bed throughout the afternoon. She had some serious jet lag. It didn't help that Lucy had woke her up last night after she got home from work to hug her to death and tell her how much she had missed her.

History apparently was destined to repeat itself when Lucy busted through her door in a similar fashion to last night.

"Lu-chaann!" Levy whined, "I'm trying to sleep!"

Lucy came over and sat down on Levy's bed.

"Aw come on Levy! You've been asleep all day!"

"But I'm still tired," Levy pouted.

Lucy decided to ignore her. "Guess what happened at work though!" she said excitedly.

"What?" Levy sighed.

"You know that cute guy with the pink hair who always comes into Fairy Tail?"

"Yes Lucy, of course I know who Natsu is."

"Well he came in today and invited me to a party he's throwing tonight! I was wondering if you would come with me." Lucy gave her the puppy dog eyes. "Please?"

"I don't know Lu-chan. I don't really feel like partying today."

"Aww Levy-chan pleeease?! It's going to be really fun! Apparently one of Natsu's cousins just came back home or something like that and he's throwing him a surprise party. All of our friends are going to be there!" Lucy tried to persuade her.

Levy was about to protest when she realized what her friend had said. There could only be so many long lost cousins coming back home, and if she had to bet she would say she knew who Natsu's was. She had met him just last night after all.

Levy smiled at her friend. "Okay I'll go."

"Really? Oh that's great! Thank you Levy! It will be really fun, I promise!" Lucy hugged her.

"Yeah, yeah" Levy laughed. "Just tell me where it's at and I'll go with you."

"It's at Fairy Tail of course. Where else?"

* * *

**A/N: ***Writes an AU involving airplanes even though I've only been on airplane like twice* Oh well. Motion sickness on the other hand is something I'm very familiar with.


End file.
